South Africa Government Snubs ICANN

South Africa is a very nice country; nice people, nice food, nice places, growing economy and most of all, the most developed in Africa, well that can be argued, but you get the drift.

The best part about this is that most South Africans know it and think they are better than the rest of Africa. Well, we can argue about that until the cows come home. The government is also aware of this and they don’t agree to be bossed around.

That is probably why the government hierarchy ignored the opening ceremony of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). Ordinarily in Africa, when there is a big meeting in the country, you know the kind that brings together 1800 people drawn from all over, the government is involved.

This is Africa, and we like political blessings. When ICANN came to Kenya, the Vice President was there with the other political people that fall under the vice presidency.

The last time ICANN held its meeting in Cape Town in 2004, the top brass, led by the then minister, was there.

So, what changed?

The Department of Communication said that the right protocol was not followed and the government was not involved during the bidding process for Durban to be the host city.

For every meeting, ICANN spends more than $2 million and that is before the delegates spend on their food, safaris and those other night activities.

For a country that has a majority of the new Generic Top Level Domains, South Africa feels nothing 🙂 South Africa is leading in the application for .africa, .durban, .capetown .supersport etc

So, why wouldn’t the minister make an exception and just come? Well, there are rules and they must be followed.

Its not a must for politicians to be involved, but can you imagine in Costa Rica, the president was there to open the session.